Sony stands by a successful superzoom design, but goofs up by cramming it with too many megapixels.

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This review was published on October 17, 2012. Since then, this product may have been discontinued or replaced. Pricing and availability may differ from what is stated in the review.

Features

Like most Cyber-shot cameras above a certain price, the HX200V has a long roster of extra features. Plenty of picture effects and filters are available. It's one of the fastest burst shooters we've seen. Tons of video settings are available. And as the 'V' at the end of its name suggests, it has a built-in GPS unit for geotagging photos. Like most superzooms, the headline feature is really the huge zoom range—30x, in this case.

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Where To Buy

Sony Cyber-shot HX200V

Our editors review and recommend products to help you buy the stuff you need. If you make a purchase by clicking one of our links, we may earn a small share of the revenue. Our picks and opinions are independent from any business incentives.

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Where To Buy

Sony Cyber-shot HX200V

Our editors review and recommend products to help you buy the stuff you need. If you make a purchase by clicking one of our links, we may earn a small share of the revenue. Our picks and opinions are independent from any business incentives.

Our editors review and recommend products to help you buy the stuff you need. If you make a purchase by clicking one of our links, we may earn a small share of the revenue. Our picks and opinions are independent from any business incentives.

Wide-angle landscape shot. Looks good at regular viewing sizes, with vibrant color and no obvious resolution problems. It'll be fine for most people most of the time. At a full 18 megapixels, the sensor's limitations are obvious, and it looks sloppier than ISO 100 ever should. But scaled down, it's OK.
* Focal: 4.8mm
* Shutter: 1/250s
* Aperture: f/2.8
* ISO: 100
* Mode: Auto+

Nice color reproduction, and details at full size are much crisper than they were in the landscape shot above. The finest details are still mushy, like individual strands of (fake) hair, and shading in drawings, but in this case, it does well for a point-and-shoot.
* Focal: 12.1mm
* Shutter: 1/60s
* Aperture: f/4.0
* ISO: 100
* Mode: Program

Shot at the highest ISO setting, with mandatory multi-shot noise reduction applied. Obviously very soft at full size, like a watercolor. But it maintains saturation, and isn't all that grainy. For such a high sensitivity out of a point-and-shoot, the end result so isn't bad at regular viewing sizes.
* Focal: 6.2mm
* Shutter: 1/400s
* Aperture: f/3.2
* ISO: 12800
* Mode: Program

Looks decent at a regular size. Warm colors are expected in this setting, and there isn't too much grain. At full size, the cat looks as fake as a stuffed animal, but scaled down a bit, it's good enough to put on the internet, with all the other cat pictures.
* Focal: 4.8mm
* Shutter: 1/15s
* Aperture: f/2.8
* ISO: 800
* Mode: Program

Details are clearer than we expected to see, especially at ISO 400. Fine shading turns into generally muddled gray areas, but that's nothing out of the ordinary for a point-and-shoot. Not bad. It seems to do better with studio targets than real world situations.
* Focal: 14.2mm
* Shutter: 1/20s
* Aperture: f/4.5
* ISO: 400
* Mode: Program

The original "dead leaves" chart. Not particularly sharp, but decent detail retention (individual blades of grass, some veins in the leaves). This camera is best at painting in broad strokes, not fine details.
* Focal: 4.8mm
* Shutter: 1/1000s
* Aperture: f/2.8
* ISO: 100
* Mode: Program